Happy St. Patrick’s Day all! Did you guys know this is also St. Gertrude’s Day, the patron saint of cats? Well, it looks like technically she’s the patron saint of a lot of things, but people call on her for protection from mice and rats and she is most revered by cat lovers. I can’t believe all these years I could have been celebrating her!

Actually, speaking of celebrating, I was talking with a friend today who says she hates this holiday because she got pinched all the time as a kid. It got me remembering things. Like, we are Irish Catholic on my mom’s side. Her grandparents came here as kids, I believe, so my great-grandparents. Not terribly far removed. She was always proud of her heritage - as am I - and was big on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

Now, if I forgot to put on green, she would not pinch me. However, she did not stop my older bother from pinching and man, could he ever pinch! And he’d get me more than once, chasing me down the hallway until I went back to my room to change. At school, I was a pincher of other kids. Any kid that didn’t understand the tradition or know what Saint Patrick’s Day was got extra pinches from me!

But at home we celebrated in a much nicer manner than that - and without alcohol or partying, as my mom was not a drinker at all and was always kind of appalled at the way non-Irish Americans would use it an excuse to get rowdy. Instead we would wear green, make and eat shamrock shaped sugar cookies with green frosting, read the story of Saint Patrick (she must have had a kid’s book on it or something) and say a prayer in his honor. That was how we celebrated our heritage. I always liked it.

Today has had me thinking about Mom a lot. I remember she used to tell about her elementary school, back in the 50s. On Saint Patrick’s Day all the Irish kids wore green. All the Protestant kids would wear red (or orange, which is it?) on purpose to piss the Irish kids off. This would always lead to a brawl at recess. If you can imagine a bunch of say 8-year-olds, half in green, half in red, having a serious rumble at recess - like they were not kidding around - well, there you have my mom’s childhood Saint Patrick’s Day. Though I’m sure her parents made her say a prayer or something too, lol.

Anyways, have a good day, ya’ll, and be safe and responsible if you drink!

Interesting post. I went to a few St. Patrick's Day parties when I lived in NYC, but none here in NH. I don't remember any celebrations or traditions as a child. I guess we didn't have anyone who was Irish growing up in Ohio.